ARSENAL's title run last season was built on a solid defensive foundation.
Between the first four picks of the 2023/24 season – Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel and Oleksandr Zinchenko – they missed just fourteen Premier League games.
White made 37 appearances. Gabriel made 36. Zinchenko had some injury problems but still managed to make 27, while Saliba played every minute of every match.
Yes, their attack was crucial: they scored 91 goals, a club record over a 38-game season.
But they also produced one of their best defensive displays since the Invincibles, conceding 29 – just three more than the historic title-winning side of 2003/04.
In the end it brought them extremely close to the Prem crown, taking Manchester City all the way to the last day of May but falling just two points short.
Seven months later, Mikel Arteta's Gunners find themselves on the fringes of this title race, six points clear of leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand heading into the festive period.
And again, we can look to the defense for answers, where a lack of consistency is hurting them in the Prem.
Yet another injury in an injury-hampered season so far – missing Gabriel, Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori last weekend – forced Arteta, not for the first time, to deploy a makeshift backline in the 1-1 draw against Fulham . .
Thomas Partey, Saliba, Jakub Kiwior and Jurrien Timber were already Arsenal's ninth combination this season.
It's clear that Arteta's first choice this season is Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori, but that quartet has only started together FOUR times so far – three wins and one draw.
The most games on the spin that Arsenal have used the same backline is just THREE, between matchweeks two and four with White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber – two wins and one draw.
In total, Arsenal have only had the same backline THREE times for back-to-back games, going unbeaten (played seven, won five, drawn two).
Between gameweek six and gameweek 12, Arteta pulled off SEVEN different combos in a row, winning just three times (two draws, two losses).
All of this has had an impact, if only slightly.
Last season, Arsenal conceded fourteen goals at this stage and produced six clean sheets.
This was achieved by appointing the same back four for six consecutive game weeks, winning four and drawing twice.
This time they scored fifteen goals and recorded five clean sheets. Considering the disruption, it's perhaps impressive that the statistics are virtually identical.
But the big difference is in the results.
After fifteen games in 23/24, Arsenal had won eleven, drawn three and lost once, compared to this season where they won eight, drew five and lost two.
In four of those draws, Arsenal have dropped points in winning positions against Chelsea, Liverpool, Brighton and Man City, with most of the last two games still down to ten men.
And within those four results, three different backlines were visible.
There have been some positives. The successful combination of Saliba and Gabriel has played twelve of the fifteen matches, but the constant change around them has taken its toll.
It's chalk and cheese when you compare it to Liverpool, who have used six different back lines.
But the Reds' first choice Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konata and Andy Robertson have started eight of their first 14 games.
In their first ten games, the same four backs started seven times (eight wins, one draw and one loss).
Trent started the first eleven games on the spin and only missed two. Van Dijk has started every match. Konate started 11 of the first 14.
Their longest streak of constant changes to the backline is six, between gameweek nine and gameweek 14 (four wins and two draws).
But within that period, Trent, Van Dijk and Robertson were constantly present.
Not for the first time this season, Arteta's biggest job is tidying up the medical room and keeping it that way.
Consistency is key if they want to pursue another title challenge.
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